


It's Only Roleplay

by BlueRoboKitty



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Explicit Language, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, MMORPGs, Online Romance, Pining, Roleplaying Character, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Underlying Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 10:29:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8098690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueRoboKitty/pseuds/BlueRoboKitty
Summary: Keith doesn’t have much of a social life, constantly worried about keeping up with his grades in order to keep his scholarship. But feeling left out lets him give in to his classmates and play a popular MMO, Kingdoms of Altea. He quickly learns that his friends are really into roleplay, and no one more so than Lance, a begrudging frenemy Keith puts up with because of their mutual social circles and shared interests. Yet all that seems to fall to the wayside as Lance's catboy toon flirts hard with Keith’s catgirl toon in-character. As always when it comes to Lance, there’s only one way for Keith to respond: do whatever he does and do it better. It's just roleplay. nbd.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I see all these MMO AUs all over the place and I just had to try my hand at my own version. This story came to me pretty quickly; I've pretty much outlined most of it already, just waiting for my fingers to pump out the words. 
> 
> If this game sounds really close to FFXIV, you'd be right! :B
> 
> I miss FFXIV. Alas, I have no time for it anymore.

Skin ivory white, and eyes as red as the crimson streaks in her black hair with tiny pigtails. Muscular, built like fighter, a bit on the short side, thighs that could squeeze a man’s skull to a pulp, a tiny virtual force to be reckoned with. Now all she needed was a name.

Keith sat back in his chair and took a swig of Mountain Dew, tapping his finger against the can, watching in consideration as his game avatar hopped playfully from one pose to another, her cat ears flicking along with her fluffy tail. Let’s see, she was a Kaloki, a catgirl, and she was a dual-wielding rogue, melee DPS combat, his preferred role.

After several failed attempts of putting in names already taken, he finally started the game with “K’yth”.

To his credit, it wasn’t the least creative he had been.

This character wasn’t meant to be his own persona, or anything like that; Keith just enjoyed playing female characters more. Something about playing an adorable murder machine was incredibly appealing, and female characters tended to look much cuter than their male counterparts. Although a name so close to his own didn’t really separate him from her all that much at first glance. Oh, well.

He crushed the empty soda can and opened a new one as the cinematic intro played, introducing him to the world of Altea. His character would start in the kingdom of Arus, where its capital city was currently under siege in some major world event. It kind of sucked that K’yth was only level 1, waaaay too low to be of any significance for this event. Instead, he had to endure about twelve levels of tutorial before the game would finally set him free into the virtual wild.

At least it was Double XP Weekend, perfect for drawing in new players and helping them level up quickly to catch up with their friends. Keith figured that maybe if he devoted the entire night to nothing but tearing through the tutorial, he would at least be higher than level twelve and able to do some real gameplay, maybe even participate in the world event for a little bit before it ended next week.

The vast desert city of the Arusian capital, U’rehn, was exceptionally crowded to the point where Keith’s connection lagged considerably in the denser areas. He quickly brought up the HUD menu and turned off the player names and guild tags. It was little inconvenient not being able to tell who was who, but every little bit of data his internet didn’t have to load could only help. He would prefer not sacrificing any of his graphics’ settings, thanks.

Starting a new game during the weekend may not have been the best decision, truth be told, much less during a world event. But his friends he met at the university had been begging Keith to finally start this game, and only his weekends were available. Midterms were only less than a month away, and Keith warned his buds that he would only play if the game didn’t interfere too much with his studies. He was riding through the university on a full scholarship, so he couldn’t afford his grades slipping. Literally. Growing up an orphan and then emancipated at sixteen didn’t exactly put a lot of money to his name. He received just enough in his monthly stipend to set aside some savings, buy some new clothes whenever the mall had decent sales, and pay for his monthly subscription to _Kingdoms of Altea._

He wandered through U’rehn’s side streets for a little while where there wasn't a whole lot of people, players and NPCs alike, taking in colossal buildings of stone and iron, windows gilded with gold, and sunlight bright enough to almost be real. It was hard to believe this was just a video game on his computer monitor. He could easily trick his mind into feeling that desert warmth on his skin and the heat of bodies as players brushed close, smell the scents of a crowded city from delicious food to rotten sewage and everything in between.

A loud ding plucked from his speakers, and Keith noticed a message had popped up in the chat window, bright purple text of a private message instead of the boring yellow text of general chat.

> _Azulbleu: K’yth?_
> 
> _Azulbleu: REALLY?_
> 
> _Azulbleu: Of alllllll the names you could’ve possibly thought of you went with THAT._

Keith frowned. Who the hell was this internet stranger getting all uppity about his name for no reason?

A male Kaloki ran up to him, or K’yth rather, a catboy with brown skin, blue hair with matching tail, wearing an intricate set of leather armor painfully detailed down to the last buckle. Keith squinted and zoomed in with his mouse wheel. Was that a gun strapped to his back? There were guns in a fantasy game?

He should message back, shouldn’t he? Before Keith could figure it out, another message pinged.

> **[Accept Friend Request from Azulbleu?]**

Then...

> _Azulbleu: Accept my friend request jerkface._

Who the hell did this guy think he –

> _Azulbleu: That way I can get you into the guild immediately. I have no idea when Princess will log back in to accept guild applications._
> 
> _Azulbleu: Normal members can invite up to three friends without waiting for moderator approval._
> 
> _Azulbleu: And it’s easier for when we party up together._

It hit him just as he figured out how to respond.

> _K’yth: Lance?_
> 
> **[Azulbleu jumps around with joy.]**

That was the message that popped up as Lance’s catboy emoted happily, leaping about with a cheer as his blue ears wiggled on his head.

> _Azulbleu: What gave it away? My charm? My kitty-man who looks as handsome as I do?_
> 
> _K’yth: You named yourself "blue-blue"._

There was a distinct pause. The catboy on the screen stood idle.

> _Azulbleu: At least it’s not a stupid spelling of my real name._

Where was that eyeroll emote when he needed one? Keith checked the chat menu and opened a huge list of emotes in the respective tag with corresponding icons he could put on his HUD. And wouldn’t you know it, there was an eyeroll emote. He dragged the icon down to one of his action bars because he was sure he was going to be using it a lot.

> **[K’yth rolls her eyes in exasperation.]**
> 
> _Azulbleu: Look at you!!! RPing and stuff already!_

Before Keith could think up a proper response that wasn’t just pressing the eyeroll emote again, another message from “Blue-Blue” pinged. The text was white, meaning Lance was using the “speak” function and anyone within a certain range could “overhear” this conversation.

> **Azulbleu says: Hey there, pretty kitty~ What brings you to town? Looking for work? Adventure? LOVE? I got ways to get you all three, nya~**
> 
> **[Azulbleu purrs as he wears his most charming smile most ladies find completely irresistible.]**

Well, things just got weird all of a sudden.

> _K’yth: Um… ???_
> 
> _Azulbleu: It’s RP, dude. You do know Legendary Defenders is an RP server right?_
> 
> _Azulbleu: Ofc you don’t have to RP if you don’t want to but a lot of ppl here do so that might get a little awkward._
> 
> _Azulbleu: Like being the only sober guy at a party._
> 
> _K’yth: It’s ok. I’ve RP’d before. I don’t mind._

And then to prove his point - 

> **[K’yth rolls her eyes in exasperation.]**

Not a bad start, right?

 

* * *

 

Several hours and a bajillion fetch quests later, K’yth was finally level 12 and officially out of tutorial mode. She now had access to lower level mounts and could leave the city to explore the world of Altea beyond Arus’s walls. He had to go through the secret route through the sewers if he wanted to leave, however. “Newbie” route, Lance had called it, for people either more concerned with leveling up their new toons or simply didn’t want to participate in the world event.

“I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to,” Lance chatted in his ear. Now that more of their friends had come online, the conversation had moved to a voice-chat program where most of their group “OOC” talk took place. Easier than clogging the chat box with a bajillion different in-character and out-of-character conversations, Lance had explained, and Keith couldn’t deny the logic of it.

“There is so much good shit to get even for newbies.”

“Yeah, but it’s super inconvenient trying to go out of your way to your next quest marker without getting killed,” Pidge pointed out. “I’m super tired of killing Kowofs. Do you have any idea how much Kowof fur I have? It’s only tier 2 shit.”

“Why not give it to the new guy?” Hunk suggested. “Then he can get started on his crafting without spending too much gold right away.”

“Nah, I’m gonna put it all in the guild chest. He can either get his own or go through guild procedures like everybody else.”

“Harsh, Pidge!” Lance exclaimed.

A popup appeared over Keith’s HUD with **[Accept Trade Request from Pidge?]** and thirty Kowof fur transferred into his inventory.

> _Pidge: :P_
> 
> _Pidge: Don’t tell the others. It will ruin my reputation of the hardass sorcerer who has no time for this niceness._
> 
> _K’yth: My lips are sealed. ;) And thanks!_

 

* * *

 

The guild was called Castle of Lions, and Lance couldn’t seem to shut up about how their tag < CoL > looked like “cool”. Keith could kind of see it.

CoL was popular in the Legendary Defender server. Like really popular. It had enough of a reputation to acquire one of the biggest houses and plots in the server’s housing district. Players were everywhere, members either training or hanging out in the yard, or other players waffling out in the street hoping that they could score a guild invite by making friends. This place was like its own city. His chat window had exploded with different characters RPing different events. Lance created another chat room just for the four of them in order to filter out all the noise, and Azulbleu brought K’yth through the gate and inside the mansion. A lot of players stopped what they were doing, no doubt checking out the "new girl" with her low level gear all but shouting her newbie status for anyone to see. 

The first thing Keith saw when he entered the mansion was the giant lion throne at the other end of the foyer between a pair of huge stairways that curved up to the second floor. Portraits of various important story NPCs decorated the walls. A chandelier shimmered in different colors high above.

> **Azulbleu says: Here she is, our home away from home. And now your home. Until you get enough money for your own house. Or, if you want, you can buy a room here. It serves the same purpose, except you can’t garden or train your ponytors in your own private space. Here, everything you do is for the guild.**

“Ponytors?” Keith repeated.

“Yeah, the giant raptor lookin’ things everyone rides,” Lance explained. “It’s like Altea’s equivalent of a horse. They’re very common, and the main storyline will give you your own when you hit, uh, level 20, I think?”

“It’s level 20,” Hunk added helpfully.

Keith felt a little embarrassed that he knew next to nothing about _Kingdoms of Altea_ ’s lore, and here he was playing a character who should probably know plenty about it as someone who lived here. Maybe he could give K’yth amnesia? That felt very cliché, and that still wouldn’t free him from developing some kind of backstory for her, anyway, much less a story how she even got amnesia to begin with.

He sighed under his breath. He didn’t think he would have to do homework for this game. His friends sounded like they were pretty heavy into the RP aspect, especially Lance, who had taken him under his wing despite not being exactly friends. Azulbleu flirted with K’yth like it was no big deal, even though Lance would be repulsed by the very idea of flirting with Keith in real life. He watched as K’yth followed Azulbleu down a small set of stairs beyond the foyer, and he contemplated her story, what kind of person she would be. She still wore her level 1 hunter gear despite being level 12; Lance had said Keith didn’t need to worry that much about gear until 12, anyway, when he was out of tutorial mode. Double XP weekend also rendered Keith’s gear pretty useless pretty quickly, leveling up way faster before he opened the quests to obtain higher level gear. 

> **Azulbleu says: And here is our basement dwelling troll. Be nice and say ‘hello’, Pidge!**
> 
> **[Azulbleu waves with enthusiasm.]**

The basement was decorated in strange sigils and many candles, skulls and bones, a large pentagram carved into the floor, all contributing to a grim atmosphere of dark magic. A small mage stood on a stool by the desk wearing robes of green and black. The troll was small and chubby with large golden eyes and sharply pointed ears peeking from beneath the cloak’s hood.

> **[Pidge grunts in barely acknowledgement, not looking up from his grimoires. He has more important shit to do than entertain new guildies. Every inch of his stance tells the two cats to move along and not bother him.]**

Keith snickered. In real life, Pidge was a girl named Katie, a genius computer programmer who had graduated high school at only sixteen and attended the university with him and their other friends. Her character, Pidge, had such a distinctive personality that it became Katie’s nickname in their group as a kind of inside joke. That nickname had been the first time Keith ever heard of _Kingdoms of Altea_ , though it would be weeks before his friends finally convinced him to play with them. Keith hadn’t been sure if he had the time for it, added to the fact he wasn’t a very social person to begin with, but after a while, the inside jokes became too much and he finally had to know what all the hype was about.

Azulbleu immediately got up in Pidge’s personal space, just like Lance would in real life, and it was funny to Keith how close Lance kept his character’s personality to his own. Wasn’t the point of RP to be someone completely different? He couldn't imagine Lance being anyone other than Lance, however. 

> **Azulbleu says: Whatcha doing, little guy?**
> 
> **Pidge says: I swear to the gods, Blue-Blue, get out of my face or I will turn you into a toad.**

“Ha! I’m not the only one who calls you ‘blue-blue’!” Keith cheered.

“I will have the whole bunch of ya know that we are technically speaking Altean common therefore neither French nor Spanish exist in this world therefore _my name does not translate to ‘blue-blue’!”_

“Yes, it does, Blue-Blue,” Pidge shot back.

> **[Pidge lets an exasperated and annoyed sigh, the urge to set Azul’s tail on fire rising to alarming levels. He grits his teeth and regains his patience instead.]**
> 
> **Pidge says: I’m working on new spells.**
> 
> **Azulbleu says: I’m surprised you’re not out helping with the siege. Lots of gross Galra to blow up.**
> 
> **[Pidge shrugs.]**
> 
> **Pidge says: The gear I got from the Zolo Prison is better than what I can get from the siege. Why aren’t you there? I’d figured you’d be all about playing the hero and saving some poor damsels.**
> 
> **Azulbleu says: I gotta show this lovely lady the ropes.**
> 
> **[Azulbleu gestures to K’yth.]**
> 
> **Azulbleu says: Pidge, this is K’yth. I met her in town.**
> 
> **[Pidge grunts, as close to a proper greeting as he lets himself get, then glares at Azul.]**
> 
> **Pidge says: We can’t just take in every cute girl you happen to come across in town just because you’re trying to get under her skirts.**

Keith nearly spat out his Mountain Dew. “Wha-what!? Seriously, Lance!”

Pidge snorted. “It’s true. Lance is the reason why our guildmaster, Princess, put a limit on how many friends members can invite into the guild.”

Keith wiped the soda that had splattered on his chin with the hem of his shirt. “I can’t fucking believe – no, wait, I actually can.”

“Yeah, every week Lance brought in a new girl toon, and while I don’t mind helping newbies out, it became too much and Princess got really fed up with the whole thing.”

“I’m just scouting out some new potentials is all!”

“Right, and their toon designs had _nothing_ to do with it.”

> **[K’yth glares at Azulbleu.]**
> 
> **K’yth says: You better not get anywhere near my skirts.**
> 
> **Azulbleu says: You’re wearing pants tho.**
> 
> **K’yth says: I will end you.**
> 
> **Eartheart says: I like this girl. She’ll fit in great!**

A giant dragon-man came into the room, a large man with golden patches of scales, massive horns, and a thick tail. He also wore mage robes, but these came with a leather breastplate and matching boots. 

> **[Eartheart smiles, friendly, hoping he doesn’t show too much teeth and scare off the new girl. For once, maybe Azul brought in someone based on her merits, not just looks.]**

“Hey, remember the fourth wall, you guys!” Lance snapped.

> **[Eartheart bows in greeting.]**
> 
> **Eartheart says: Nice to meet you. I’m Eartheart, guild alchemist. I make potions, bombs, poisons, and food, all tier 5 stuff. If you need heals or stat boots, I’m your guy.**

“Okay, seriously though, Hunk is the best healer on the server,” Lance praised. “You should see his PVP stats, they’re _insane.”_

“I’m not that great,” Hunk mumbled. “I don’t even like PVP.”

“Yeah, he plays once and becomes number one on the server,” Pidge added with a laugh. “You’re too humble, my guy, too humble.”

Turned out, the Castle of Lions was a very busy guild indeed. Due to their popularity, they were in heavy competition with many other guilds on the server, even some guilds in other servers. They participated in all the PVP and world events, managed their own marketplace, and carried newbies through dungeons and raids so they could progress faster with the expectations that these newbies would do the same in kind once they hit veteran status.

And the farming.

So much farming. Several guild members farmed specific items like it was an actual job, something the guild actually paid in-game gold in exchange for the day’s bounty.

> **Azulbleu says: So don’t sell any of your inventory to the NPC merchants. Not even the shitty stuff. You’ll get more gold giving back to the guild, anyway, Princess is pretty big about that, giving back and stuff.**
> 
> **K’yth says: What will my job be?**
> 
> **Azulbleu says: Anything you want. You can have more than one, too, but it’s usually best to start out with one that’s compatible with your class. Like, Eartheart is an alchemist, right? So he crafts lots of potions and stat meals for the guild to use when they go dungeon crawling. Pidge magically charges a lot of elemental crystals needed for crafting. Things like that.**
> 
> **[Azulbleu grins playfully.]**
> 
> **Azulbleu says: Some of our members are dancers and get lots of tips for being... entertaining. I definitely would tip you a lot just for wearing the outfits.**

_“Really, Lance!?”_ all three of them shouted at once.

“I’m just throwin' suggestions out there!” Lance shot back.

Keith had never been on the receiving end of Lance’s heavy flirting, and wow, his ears _burned._

“You can hit him if you want,” Pidge pointed out.

“H-hey, that’s against guild rules! He’ll be flagged!”

“Preeeettty sure Princess will forgive him. He's only doing what we all wanna do.”

"Goddamn, you guys are  _meeean."_

> **[K’yth decides to ignore Azul’s cringing attempts at winning her over.]**
> 
> **K’yth says: So what’s your job? I bet knowing you it’s something weird.**

The catboy twirled his rifle up and around over his shoulder in an admittedly impressive display, even if it was just an animated emote.

> **[Azulbleu shows off.]**

Appropriate.

> **Azulbleu says: I’m a hunter so of course I hunt. I gather meat for meals and skin for crafting, things like that.**
> 
> **[K’yth smiles and nods.]**
> 
> **K’yth says: Sounds like my kind of job. I’ll do that. I’m sure it’s easier to skin with knives instead of a gun, anyway.**

“You encroachin’ on my turf there, Keith!?” Lance suddenly yelled indignantly.

Keith smirked even though Lance couldn’t see it. “What’s wrong? Afraid of a little competition?”

“As fuckin’ _if,_ mullet!”

“Ugh, and here we go," Hunk muttered. 

"These two, swear to god," Pidge groaned. 

 

* * *

 

The sun was up by the time Keith crawled into bed. He had just reached his first dungeon in the main quest, almost level 20, but he needed some sleep and should have gone to bed hours ago. There was no way he had the brain capacity to concentrate on crawling through a dungeon right now, and he couldn't begin to understand how the others weren't exhausted. Hunk and Pidge offered to carry him through and be done with it since it was the first dungeon and therefore quick and easy, but Keith declined. He needed rest, and he needed to study for a least a little bit this weekend.

“No wonder you’re so dull,” Lance remarked. “All work and no play.”

Yeah, well, Keith didn’t have the highest GPA in their graduating class for nothing. It’s what kept him in college for free. He already felt bad for spending his entire Friday evening after class playing an online game instead of cracking open a book at least once for an hour or so.

It was about ten in the morning when Keith woke up from his nap feeling a lot more refreshed. He quickly showered to wake himself up a bit more, threw on some clothes, grabbed his stuff and headed down to the Student Lounge. He didn’t really trust himself to not be distracted by _Kingdoms of Altea_ , considering it was just a quick login away with his computer sitting right there while he tried to study.

The lounge was practically empty, but Keith picked a table toward the back, anyway. He drank a steaming cup of black coffee and ate a blueberry bagel slathered with cream cheese as he poured over his textbook for Astronomy, assigned reading for tomorrow’s lecture. He managed to stay focused on his homework, but every now and again he thought about the game, thought about what kind of backstory he could make up for K’yth. Brutal honesty here, he felt kind of bad logging out while the others were still so enthusiastic about showing him everything. _Kingdoms of Altea_ was a huuuuge game, and had a ridiculous amount of content to offer. 

But he just wasn’t a genius like Pidge or Hunk, and he wasn’t some kind of epic bullshitter like Lance who could play an MMO all day every day and still make decent grades somehow. He needed to study, and that meant he needed to keep his social life on the backburner for now.

Forty minutes and two full pages of notes later, he pulled up the _Kingdoms of Altea_ wikia page on his phone because his mind just couldn’t take it anymore. Spending a few minutes writing down some notes about K’ythe wouldn’t hurt his grades any. His brain appreciated the small break.

According to the lore, Kaloki were a feline-like people who lived in tribes in the Altean grasslands. They were no strangers to war, prone to either fighting each other for resources or working together against invasion. Keith jotted down notes as he read – K’yth would definitely be an adventurous spirit, someone who could never stay still in one place for very long, who refused to be tied down by anything. She ended up in Arus, specifically U’rehn, because she wanted to experience the big city, the crowds, the excitement. She would definitely have been drawn to Azulbleu’s promise of adventure, too, even if he had come onto her a little strong. Kaloki tended to be wary of their own kind out in the wild, but Keith figured K’yth would be a little naïve and too eager for some action to be all that concerned about meeting another Kaloki.

“Action” as in adventure not that other thing Azulbleu had been offering. Ew. He hoped Lance wasn't into  _that_ kind of roleplay. 

Roleplay or not, it still felt weird that Lance could flirt so casually like that. He was well aware it was Keith on the other side of the screen, and yet Azulbleu hit on K’yth with all the secondhand embarrassment of Lance’s pickup lines in real life. Lance was apparently very good at keeping himself separate from his own character in that Azulbleu didn't treat K'yth like Lance treated Keith, at all.

Keith had roleplayed before plenty of times, but always on message boards or some other social media platform, and even then he stopped shortly after entering high school. This was his first time roleplaying in an MMO setting, and it was different than what felt like writing a novel with another person. In the game, Keith could see a catgirl version of himself doing things, saying things, and it didn’t help that she wasn’t very different from him in terms of personality and motivation.

This was going to take some big time getting used to.

 

* * *

 

The voice chat was loud in his ear the moment Keith logged in later that afternoon, Lance yelling, “Keith, Keith, oh my fuckin’ god, bro, you should have seen how Hunk destroyed the Gladiator! Holy shit!! The healer, who would have fuckin’ thought!? BOOM! Right in his fuckin’ face!”

“It’s not a big deal, Lance,” Hunk interjected, and Keith could almost see him blushing and scratching the back of his neck like he did whenever he was showered with praise. “All I did was just activate my chemist ultimate.”

Alchemist was one of those weird classes that could be played in two ways: the chemist, which was range DPS or the pharmacist, which was healer. Hunk mostly focused on pharmacist, but he was exceptionally skilled in both specializations and flawlessly switched between the two whenever the situation called for it. Keith saw a bit of it in basic combat while he was leveling up last night, and he was really looking forward to seeing this tactic shine in a dungeon.

“Hey, hey, mullet brain, are ya finally gonna do your dungeon tonight?” Lance chirped as if reading Keith’s mind. “Now that you’ve slept and all that boring stuff?”

Keith snorted. “Have you slept at all, Lance?”

“He never sleeps on the weekends,” Hunk pointed out. “I just woke up myself, not too long ago.”

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” Lance replied.

“A part of me doubts he’ll have the energy for three dungeons in a row, but he has done more surprising things.”

“They’re just beginner dungeons, Hunk, we’ll finish all three in like five minutes.”

Keith sat up straighter in his chair. “Wait, _three_ dungeons? I thought it was just one for the main quest!”

“Nope, you gotta do three in a row,” Lance replied.

“Because there are different mechanics involved in each one,” Hunk added. “One's a DPS check, one's a tank check, and one's a healer check. It’s a really good way to ultimately decide which role you prefer, or even if you want to pick up multiple classes.”

 _Kingdoms of Altea_ was one of those games where you didn’t have to stick with the class you created your character in. It was always possible to change your mind later. You could pick up multiple classes and jobs for your character, level them all up if you wanted. Or just stick with one. Whatever you wanted. And on an RP server, even more so. 

Princess, the guildmaster, had maxed out every single class and job, for example. She could fill in whatever role was required of her in a party. Such flexibility was one of the reasons why Castle of Lions became as popular and effective as it did; all their best players can be whatever role was needed. Keith even heard stories of CoL running 24-man raids completely by themselves sometimes. Lance wouldn’t stop gushing about how those were the best raids he’d ever been a part of, some of his fondest MMO moments, and Keith couldn't help wanting to reach max level as fast as possible so he could experience those moments for himself. 

“Once our tank comes in, we’ll get started so go get your gear ready,” Lance said.

“You’re coming with?” Keith inquired with surprise.

There was a devilish laugh. “Uh, yeah? It’ll be fun watching you screw up again and again.”

“Aw, Lance, don’t be mean,” Hunk cut in. “Ignore him, Keith, you’ll do great.”

At that moment, Azulbleu approached K’yth, once again getting a little close for what would be considered socially acceptable even in virtual reality.

> **Azulbleu says: Hey. You don’t gotta worry about those old dungeons. I’ll keep you well protected with my trusty rifle here.**

Keith wasn’t entirely sure how to respond at first. Lance was doing it again, making fun of him in real life, then flirting with him in the game. He had to think like K’yth right now. She definitely wouldn’t fall for Azul’s antics, but Keith was pretty sure she would at least be a little intrigued by him. A Kaloki like her, probably from a very different tribe. Definitely intriguing, what was his story, anyway? And guns were Galran tech, she never would have seen one back in the grasslands. She would very much be fascinated by his rifle.

Oh, God, that sounded so awful.

In character or not, there was no way Keith was going to give Lance the satisfaction of acting too terribly interested in his toon. But, if he played his cards right, he could turn the tables on him. That would be something.

He typed quickly.

> **K’yth says: What makes you think I’m going to need YOUR protection? If you are dead weight, I will leave you behind. Make no mistake.**
> 
> **[K’yth’s eyes sparkle with the challenge, daring Azul to prove himself beyond just all talk.]**

Keith sat back with a smirk, and found himself actually excited for Lance’s response.

> **[Azulbleu stares in surprise.]**
> 
> **[Azulbleu grins playfully.]**
> 
> **Azulbleu says: Challenge accepted, pretty lady.**

**Author's Note:**

> [tumbling on](http://redrobokitty.tumblr.com)


End file.
